DraftKings Main MLB Picks April 28: Should we pay for an ace?
By Mike Marteny
DraftKings Main MLB Picks April 28: Should we pay for an ace?
Are you ready for some baseball? Okay, a LOT of baseball! We have 17 games today with twin bills on tap in KC and San Francisco. DraftKings split the day into two eight games slates with the odd start time between the Braves and Phillies finding itself available only in showdown and pick em modes. We will cover the eight late games here!
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It doesn’t look like any rain for any games today. The wind is blowing out to right in Pittsburgh, and blowing across the field in San Diego.
We will provide you with several options to build your lineup here. Want to spend all your money on pitchers and play bargain bats? We will highlight who is worth the money. Want to punt arms and pay up for the big boppers? We can help you with that as well, and everything in between!
These tips are based mostly on past performance. This is a nice tool for building a lineup, but should not be the only pieces of information you use. Stacking against a bad pitcher is always a good idea!
For you first time players, if you would like a free $20 in DraftKings dollars, use this link for the referral bonus with your first deposit of $5 or more! Then continue reading for tips on how to turn those DraftKings dollars into more!
Next: DraftKings Pitcher Plays
Top Tier:
Lance McCullers ($11,200): Aside from a disaster at Target Field, McCullers has had a pretty nice season. Next up is an Oakland team that doesn’t hit pitchers hard for the most part. Only five A’s have faced McCullers before. Despite their .303 average, they only have one homer and two runs in 33 at bats with eight strikeouts. There is very good potential here.
Johnny Cueto ($10,600): Cueto has been unhittable in April, but the past stats aren’t kind to him here. The Dodgers are hitting .264 against Cueto with six homers and 20 runs in 212 at bats. The 58 strikeouts is kind of low, but this being the second game of a double header, we could see some regulars rest against Cueto, further increasing his value.
Middle Tier:
Masahiro Tanaka ($8,900): The Angels are hitting only .226 against Tanaka, but they so have two homers and eight runs. The 25 strikeouts is a really nice total, so Tanaka should be able to mitigate any damage here. If you get creative, you can cram Tanaka in there at SP2.
Alex Wood ($8,800): DraftKings has Wood scheduled to start the night game of the doubleheader. If that’s the case, that gives us another really good option. The Giants are only hitting .238 in 126 at bats against Wood with three homers, but they have scored 16 runs. Wood has been inconsistent at best this year, so there is risk involved here. His 4.76 career ERA at AT&T Park doesn’t look so great either.
Jack Flaherty ($7,200): Flaherty looked really good in his first start of the season against Milwaukee back on April 3rd. The Pirates completed a huge comeback last night, but they still aren’t that great of an offense. There is a lot of potential for Flaherty here. He struck out nine Brewers in his first start. The Pirates strike out enough to make that happen here as well.
Bargain Pitchers:
Andrew Cashner ($6,800): Cashner has actually pitched very well against Detroit. The Tigers are only hitting .206 in 34 at bats with a homer, three runs, and eight strikeouts. Those are decent numbers. Cleveland is the only team that Cashner hasn’t been able to get a quality start against. He should be able to turn one in against the Tigers.
Jason Vargas ($6,200): Remember him? There is a Vargas sighting with the Mets, and gets a crack at a weak San Diego offense that is hitting just .194 against Vargas in 36 at bats with just one run and 11 strikeouts. There is actually really good potential here if you are willing to take the risk.
Caleb Smith ($4,500): Smith has a solid 3.48 ERA at home compared to a 7.94 ERA on the road. Now Smith gets a team that hits lefties hard, but mostly only at home. Smith has racked up 32 strikeouts in just 21.2 innings so far this year. There is very good potential here!
Top Tier:
For a team that punishes lefties, the White Sox didn’t do much damage against Danny Duffy last night. Well, today they get Danny Duffy lite in Eric Skoglund. Skoglund has had a rough go of it so far this year. Expect that to continue. I’m all over Jose Abreu and Matt Davidson for sure.
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE! That is all. Oh, and Salvador Perez could be worth a look as well.
Middle Tier:
It should come as no surprise that the Astros have clobbered Daniel Mengden for 14 runs in only 56 at bats. That means that one out of every four batters has crossed the plate on Mengden. The average is about one in ten! Start the Astros stack with Alex Bregman, who is 1-2 with a wal and a run so far. Evan Gattis is only 1-5, but that hit is a two run homer.
Francisco Liriano has pitched well this year, but I’m not sure I trust him against Balitmore. Trey Mancini is 3-8 with a walk and a solo homer. Chris Davis, yes, that left handed hitting Chris Davis, is 3-11 with a homer and two RBI against Liriano.
Cody Bellinger is 5-13(.385) with a walk, two doubles, and four RBI in his career against Johnny Cueto.
Buster Posey is 7-18(.389) with a walk, two doubles, a run, and three RBI against Alex Wood. Nick Hundley is 3-7 with a walk, a double, four runs, and two RBI.
Bargain Shoppers:
Victor Martinez is 2-5 with a walk, a homer, and two RBI in his career against Andrew Cashner. Jeimer Candelario has the only other RBI for the Tigers against Cashner. It came on a triple, his only hit in three at bats.
It sucks that we have to burn 1B on Wilmer Flores, but his torture of lefties is well documented. Even though Flores got the collar last night, there is still potential with another lefty on the mound.
Top Tier:
Carlos Correa is 5-9 with three walks a double, a homer, three runs, and five RBI in his career already against Daniel Mengden. Jose Altuve is 5-12 with a homer and three RBI. What about Springer? Glad you asked. He is one of the few Astros that has struggled against Mengden. Springer is just 1-8 off of Mengden.
Didi Gregorius is tied for the major league lead in homers. There is no reason not to trust him against Garrett Richards.
If DJ LeMahieu is able to play, I’m interested. Otherwise, I don’t think most Rockies live up to their price. Caleb Smith has been money at home, and the price on most Rockies is still too high.
Middle Tier:
How much do you trust the Marlins? German Marquez was bludgeoned in his only career start at Marlins Park, but that team still had Stanton and Yelich on it. Now he deals with Starlin Castro and Realmuto. Both of them are in play for me, but I will still stop short of a stack. I’m not quite that brave.
Matt Carpenter is 3-6 with three walks, a double, a homer, two runs, and four RBI in his career against Trevor Williams. Greg Garcia is 4-6 with a double, two runs, and a RBI off of Williams. If Garcia gets the start, he’s worth a look. Paul DeJong is 2-5 with a double and a solo homer off of Trevor Williams.
Bargain Shoppers:
Ian Kinsler looks too cheap for what he can do. Kinsler is 3-14 with a double, a homer, and four RBI in his career against Tanaka. Zack Cozart is worth a look too. Cozart is 1-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Chase Utley is very cheap, but he is 14-47(.298) with a walk, a double, two homers, six runs, and four RBI off of Cueto in his career. Corey Seager is 10-30 with a walk, a double, a homer, four runs, and three RBI against Cueto.
Next: Top Outfield Plays
Top Tier:
Mike Trout is 3-8 against Masahiro Tanaka, but he has no counting stats other than a stolen base.
Tommy Pham looks like a strong bet against the Pirates again. He is off to a fast start, and looks like a good option against Trevor Williams.
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Middle Tier:
Adam Jones has been the guy that has crushed Francisco Liriano. Jones is 10-27(.370) with a double, three homers, four runs, and six RBI off of Liriano.
Wow, Yoenis Cespedes at $4,000 against a rookie lefty looks like a steal. I’m going to have to play him to find out!
Matt Kemp is 12-39(.308) with two walks, two doubles, three solo homers, and five runs in his career against Johnny Cueto. Do you trust him enough to use him?
I’m certainly not lining up to use Pirates against Jack Flaherty, but Gregory Polanco is definitely in play. That’s about it for me though.
Bargain Shoppers:
Garrett Richards is pithing well right now, but this is the Yankees. Brett Gardner is 2-7 with two walks, two runs, and three RBI off of Richards so far. Richards has never faced Mike Trout or Aaron Judge. They are in play as well.
Good luck out there, and check out our picks for FanDuel baseball, along with our PGA picks. Still in NBA mode? No worries, we have the NBA DFS covered for the playoffs as well!